Improvement in steam-engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

BENJAMIN F. MONTAGUE, OF DUNREITH, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-ENGINES. 4

` Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 209,974, datedNovember 19, 1878; application filed March 27, 1878.

To all who/m, it may concern:

Beit known that I, BENJAMIN F. MONTA- GUE, of Dunreith, in the county ofHenry and State of Indianamha've invented a new and useful Improvementin Devices for Operating Slide-ValvesinSteam-Engines,whichimprovement isfully set forth in the following specication, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap and simple device foroperatin g the slide-valvein a steam-engine, which shall be at all timesunder the control of the engineer, and which shall also be operatedautomatically. It consists in the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, Figure l isa view in perspective, in which a is a lever, having its fulcrum Z1secured to the cylinder-head c. s is a sliding bar, having lugs c e',which project between the slides or guide-bars t' in the path of thecross-head h. The lever a is pivoted at the lower end, at l, to thesliding bar, and is also pivoted to the valve-rod r at o, above thefulcrum. The upper end of the lever terminates in a handle, p.

The operation of my device is as follows: The crank standing in positionfor starting, and steam being admitted to the steam-chest, the engineer,seizing the handle p, may start the engine in either direction by movingthe lever a backward or forward. The cross-head h, as the piston nearsthe end of the stroke each way, comes alternately in contact with thelugs e e of the sliding bar, thereby communicating areciprocatin gmotion to the valverod r through the sliding bar s and lever a, thuschanging the valve at the proper time automatically. The sides of thelugs ce which come in contact with the cross-head are faced With rubber,leather, or other elast-ic substance, for the purpose of avoiding noise.

By the use of this device, which may be easily and cheaply attached toan ordinary steamengine, the engineer has the power to move the valvewhile under steam-pressure, and a slight motion of the sliding bar sisalso 'sufficient to move the valve the required distance, the leverbeing longer from b to o than from b to l.

I am aware that steam-pumps have before been made, in which thevalve-rod is operated directly by means of an arm secured to thepiston-rod striking collars on the Valve-rod, and I do not claim suchadevice; but

I claim as my invention- 1. The lever a, pivoted to the sliding bar sAand valve-rod r, and having its fulcrum b secured to the cylinder-head,all constructed and arranged in the manner shown, and for the purposeset forth.

2. The sliding bar s, when provided with the rubber-lined lugs e e', andarranged to operate the valve-rod r by means of the lever a, constructedand arranged in the manner shown.

BENJAMIN F. MONTAGUE. Witnesses:

N. B. COOPER, WM. R. PEARGE.

